Monthly Box Subscriptions

anyone buy any of the monthly box subscription things as a gift? Looking for one or two for a man. I am interested in Birchbox- seems like it'll be up his alley but interested to see if anyone has tried and how you'd rate the box contents?

Also, Travel the World looks interesting.

Other suggestions?

I recently used Birchbox and loved it.  The sample were basically face, eye and body creams.  Great sizes too.  I actually found a product that I absolutely love and have bought since using the sample.   I also tried Ipsy but they are all about make-up which I really didn't care for.  I would go with Birchbox.

Another vote for Birchbox here!  It was recommended by a colleague and I love being able to sample the products each month and then earning points/money back to spend later.  Works for me!  The boxes for men look really nice too.

Box subscriptions are fun. I got a LootCrate box for 6 months for my birthday last year and while most of the stuff went straight to the kids it was a hoot whenever they showed up. As soon as I would get home on Loot day the kids would greet me at the door wanting to see all of the glorious knickknacks and figuring out what they were going to loot for themselves.

The LootCrate is more geek/game/comic/toy stuff but they do a theme every month and you get t-shirts from time to time and you can change shirt sizes whenever you want so if your kid likes a particular theme you can switch the size to small or youth if they have that available. In one of the crates I got the Ready Player One novel which I hadn't heard about but thoroughly enjoyed and apparently Steven Spielberg is making a movie of. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO3ns7_hx_U

My daughter works at "Try the World" if that's the one you are thinking about. http://www.trytheworld.com  They have an amazing product selection.

They have become suddenly very, very hot and you will be seeing more of them soon! 

(My lips are sealed )

Ooh, Try the World looks fun!!  The website looks familiar - Birchbox is branching out?

to those voting for Birchbox- are you male or female? Wondering about the products for a 40- something man with no hair ( other than facial)!  

For men a nice option, one time only not a subscription, is man crates.

Another option is the dollar shave club 

https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/gift?_ga=1.155462207.564934801.1450731967

conandrob240 said:

to those voting for Birchbox- are you male or female? Wondering about the products for a 40- something man with no hair ( other than facial)! "> 

Female for Birchbox.  But if the female side is as good as I say then I would really think the male samples would be just as good.   When you get the subscription you answer questions tailored to the person who is getting the box.  Therefore, items reflect those options.  Is this male into facial products, creams and stuff like that?  More and more men are getting into this.  A male friend of mine ordered himself anti wrinkle face cream and he was the last man on earth that I thought would do this LOL

If snacks would work, check out NatureBox, which has interesting natural snacks like dried fruit, flavored nuts and cookies. The recipient can customize his boxes online, and you can usually find a good discount code at retailmenot for a discount on the first box.

Birchbox was OK, but I got some weird samples like hair oil and makeuo colors and odd fragrances that I would never wear, and so I never wound up ordering anything. At around $10 a month it's not a bad deal,  but in my experience most samples were quite small.

http://hotsauceofthemonth.com/

If he has a dog, how about Bark Box?

https://www.barkbox.com/

no dog. Yes, he loves lotions and fragrances and shaving stuff. He doesn't have much hair (wears it close to scalp- think Terrence Howard) so hair gels, mousses and the like would be of no use.

I'm going with 6 months of Birchbox. Possibly considering a 2nd one. Do you think the travel one would be good for kids? How "adventurous" is the food? And is it usually only one of a particular food item? The 8 and 5 yr olds don't share very well.

YEAH on Birchbox... You will have to let us know (me) if it was a good box for a man.  

Funny coincidence -- I stumbled into the Try the World pop-up store at Orchard and Delancey this afternoon. (On a failed holiday mission to Russ and Daughters, where I was No. 17 in line and they were still serving No. 968 after 45 minutes, grumble.) The boxes look like they will have a lot of fun products to try, and postage is included.

You can use the code popupexclusive for a 20 percent discount on an online order.

@j_r, Follow Try the World on SnapChat and you might see Miss. R!  

(She works the pop up shop as well but works M,W,F. )

just wanted to report back on this. Went with Birchbox. Both service and product content has been lacking. First, I requested an e- card be sent on his birthday. He never got the email telling him about the gift. Then, first box got lost in mail and not received. In fairness, they were excellent when I called about missing box, overnighting another one immediately and telling me to keep both should other arrive.

The content is pretty skimpy for $35/mth, IMO. First month was a few samples (kind you can get for free at the department store or local stores like Blue Mercury) and a "gift"- a tiny leather journal that was of no interest to hubby. This month was more interesting to him- magnetic collar stays. But still didn't seem worth the price. However, he thinks it's fun and was excited about receiving them so that's all that matters.

If you're still looking at a subscription for kids, take a look at Pley. I've described it as "Netflix for Legos." We bought a 3-month subscription for my son who had a major case of the gimmes at Christmas. We realized for him a lot of the fun is in building a new set, not necessarily keeping it forever. They have toys beyond Legos and are apparently adding more types soon, but Lego is the big draw. 
I will say that the experience hasn't been perfect...shipping is a little slower than I'd like (up to a week), one had missing pieces and the toys we want aren't always available. Plus the super cool sets like the Lego Millenium Falcon are only available with a higher subscription level. But overall it's been a good experiment, and my 6-year-old is getting a kick out of choosing his sets and seeing the packages arrive. For $20 a month it's been cool to try a few new sets each month.  

If you do want to try it, here's my referral link. Disclaimer: I do get a free month if anyone signs up! 

https://www.pley.com/invite/web/qmyny32dz

conandrob240 said:

just wanted to report back on this. Went with Birchbox. Both service and product content has been lacking. First, I requested an e- card be sent on his birthday. He never got the email telling him about the gift. Then, first box got lost in mail and not received. In fairness, they were excellent when I called about missing box, overnighting another one immediately and telling me to keep both should other arrive.

The content is pretty skimpy for $35/mth, IMO. First month was a few samples (kind you can get for free at the department store or local stores like Blue Mercury) and a "gift"- a tiny leather journal that was of no interest to hubby. This month was more interesting to him- magnetic collar stays. But still didn't seem worth the price. However, he thinks it's fun and was excited about receiving them so that's all that matters.

A friend of mine received one and we felt the same -- very skimpy. 

As for the magnetic collar stays, I got a free box from a clothing store but found them very annoying.  they are not flexible and actually made the collar very uncomfortable.  I was not really sure of the point of them - sort of like a solution in search of a problem. 

Yeah, he hasn't tried them yet but liked the idea of them. I don't think I'd buy Birchbox again. I expected much better.

Not looking for a kids toy subscription but thanks anyway

conandrob240 said:

Not looking for a kids toy subscription but thanks anyway

No problem! You had mentioned kids up thread so I wasn't sure.

Why was Birchbox 35.00 ?  I thought it was $10.00.  I am sorry it didn't work out, but the excitement of knowing you are getting something is great.  I understand that part.  But I have to say, when I was with Birchbox for women I got a small jar sample of a face cream that goes for $295.00 in the store.  It was the best cream I have ever tried on my face.  But $295.00 is a lot to spend on oneself to diminish wrinkles.  

I think it was around $90 for 3 months? Or maybe I am remembering the 6 month price? I have to check what I paid. If it was $10 or even $15, then my opinion changes a bit.

I think the "salesy" part of it always trying to get you to buy stuff is a bit of a turn off as well. 

The women's box was $10 per month.   I just assumed men were the same price.  I would feel the same way you do if it was $35 per month.  Skimpy..  but check the price.  

WOW as I was typing the above Birchbox sent me an email about Valentine's Day.  I went onto the site and it is $20 per month for men.   Now how does it rate as far as the samples go?

I checked and I paid $60 for a 3 month gift subscription.  We have received 2 boxes so far.  They each had one cologne sample and 2-3 other samples- a hair product, a shave product, a shampoo/conditioner packet and two different lotions. Then each box has a "gift" with a decent price value but if you don't like said item or have no use for it, you basically just paid $20 for the samples you can get if you ask at Blue Mercury or Neiman or what's thrown in the box if you order from Sephora. There was a bonus of an Anthony Logistics gift set when I signed up with pretty good sized products so that makes it more worth it.  Hubby likes the idea of getting the box and it is fun but even he has been underwhelmed by the tiny box and skimpy contents.  I figured since it was basically a sample thing, there'd be tons of samples every month in the box. 

I don't think I would be too thrilled either for those amount of samples for $20 per month.  Oh well, live and learn.  He has one more coming so he can be surprised again one more time